You’ve taken your newborn baby for their first jab or first set of immunisations and now they are crying, agitated and unsettled. What do you do?
We can only take you through some top tips which has helped us recently.
Hold and Comfort Your Baby
Holding and soothing your newborn can help as long as you stay calm. If your baby is very agitated, they feel that something isn’t right. With you being panicky and agitated yourself, this will only make matters worse. Take a deep breath, a step back if need be and remain calm. Our baby liked to be rocked with a bit of soothing hushes.
Distraction
Distracting your baby is always a good way to make them forget the pain or side effects they are feeling from the vaccinations. Talk to your newborn, keep their mind off the pain. Bright colours are usually great and a mobile on a cot will help that distraction.
Feed Your Baby
Keep your baby well fed and satisfied. If you are breast feeding, it is always good add in that extra feed. A content baby is a happy baby.
Pacifiers and Dummies
We used a pacifier, as this acted as a comforter for our baby. This has also helped stop her crying and inhaling too much air which can be a nightmare later for newborn parents with wind. Word of caution though, if your baby is sucking on their pacifier aggressively it may be a sign of hunger.
Infant Calpol
The GP will advise giving the baby calpol straight away to help reduce the fever and ease the pain. We gave our newborn 1 dose every 6 hours with a maximum of 3 doses. Here is the guideline for the dosage.
Trust your instincts, if you feel something is wrong or your baby’s temperature is sky high then seek medical attention.
